Police and migrants grapple on the border town of Gevgelija, southern Macedonia Reuters

Riot police in Macedonia have fired tear gas and stun grenades on desperate migrants attempting to cross the border from Greece.

From behind barbed wire, Macedonian officers used tear gas to drive back migrants who attempted to charge the border on Friday morning having spent the night in the open.

The small Balkan state declared a state of emergency on Thursday, placing its southern border on lock down as its government said it would deploy the military.

Approximately 3,000 migrants are reportedly caught in the dusty no-man's-land near the small Macedonian town of Gevgelija between the two countries after landing in Greece and attempting to make their way to wealthier European countries to the north.

Watch riot police use tear gas against migrants below.

On Friday, police officers also allegedly used stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowds. Four people were reportedly injured in the ensuing chaos.

“The Macedonian authorities are responding as if they were dealing with rioters rather than refugees who have fled conflict and persecution," said Amnesty International’s Europe Deputy Director Gauri van Gulik.

He continued: “All countries have a duty to protect those fleeing conflict and persecution, and Macedonia is no exception. When the system cannot cope, you improve the system - you don’t just stop people from coming in.”

Macedonia/Greece Border Crisis

Macedonia/Greece Border Crisis

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Migrants attempt to pass the Greek-Macedonian border guarded by Macedonian police near the town of Idomeni, northern Greece

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A migrant reacts as he carries a child during clashes with Macedonian police at the Greek-Macedonian border

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A Macedonian policeman armed in riot gear clashes with a migrant girl, police have reinforced control at the border with Greece in a bid to stop the influx of migrants, but a few hundred Syrians managed to cross the frontier overnight

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Macedonian special policemen guard the border as more than a thousand immigrants wait at the border line

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Migrant men help a fellow migrant man holding a boy as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and migrants during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni,

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A barbed wire fence lines the border of Macedonia and Greece near the Gevegelija Railway station, Macedonian special policemen are guarding the border as more than a thousand immigrants wait at the border line of Macedonia and Greece

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Macedonia Border Crisis

Macedonian Police stand firm at the Greek-Macedonian border in a bid to stop the influx of migrants

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Government of Macedonia has declared the state of emergency in the region of country's southern and northern border and in accordance with the law to open a possibility for appropriate engagement of the army of Macedonia

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Macedonia Border Crisis

Macedonian police drove back crowds of migrants and refugees trying to enter from Greece on Friday after a night spent stranded in no-man's land by an emergency decree effectively sealing the Macedonian frontier.

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A migrants woman with childrens wait to pass the Greek-Macedonian border, guarded by Macedonian police near the town of Idomeni, northern Greece

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The passage via Gevgelija has been abruptly halted by the armed intervention. Reuters reported on Thursday how at the town's railway station migrants, who had already managed the fraught journey into Europe, passed their young children through the windows of packed trains en route to Serbia in a last-ditch effort to gain entry to northern Europe.

A migrant reacts as he carries a child during clashes with Macedonian police

Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the news agency that although they "cannot hermetically close the borders" they will attempt to "reduce illegal border entry to a minimum."